Trading Places

Jeff Lipsky

Over the past five years, Venice Beach–based Lipsky, 41, has shot more than 30 stories for Outside, including March's cover image of Jack Johnson. But the former Telluride, Colorado, fly-fishing guide had no interest in being shot by a colleague—until we told him the colleague was Chris McPherson. "Chris and I assisted [celebrity photographer] Mark Seliger together way back when," says Lipsky, "so it was really fun to hang out with him again." It also helped that Lipsky was able to pick the set, a friend's backyard down the street from his studio, complete with a bocce court, hammocks, takeout barbecue, and McPherson's French bulldog, Steve. "Our dogs were getting in and out of the shots all day," Lipsky says.